British indie-psych rockers and cult favorites Temples release their highly anticipated new LP, BLISS, with focus track, “Glimmer,” via V2 Records. Expanding into new electronic territory while retaining the band’s signature sound, BLISS stands as Temples’ most adventurous and liberated record to date.

LISTEN & SHARE: Temples – “Blue Flame”
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LISTEN & SHARE: Temples – “Vendetta”
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LISTEN & SHARE: Temples – “Jet Stream Heart”
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Following singles “Jet Stream Heart,” “Vendetta,” and “Blue Flame,” the group’s latest material has drawn comparisons to ’90s electronic pioneers Underworld and Massive Attack, signaling a darker, more expansive sonic direction. Uncut described the album as featuring “some of the Kettering band’s most compelling and energetic music since their mid-2010s chart peak.”

The album marks an exciting new chapter following 2023’s Exotico, and sees the band – James Bagshaw (vocals/guitar), Thomas Walmsley (bass), Adam Smith (keys/guitar) & Rens Ottink (drums) – reimagine their psych-rock roots through the prism of late ’90s and early 2000s dance music, drawing on the euphoric melancholy of the Ibiza scene and European electronica while staying true to the band’s core DNA. Influenced by the emotional pull of artists like Faithless, Underworld, Massive Attack and Portishead, BLISS taps into what Temples describe as “melancholic euphoria” – simple structures giving rise to complex feeling.

While Exotico saw Temples collaborate with guest producer Sean Ono Lennon, BLISS was produced entirely by the band. Embracing a more instinctive and hands-on approach, the group worked together in the same room, leaning into improvisation and experimentation. Using samplers not to reshape other artists’ material but to manipulate and reconstruct their own recordings, they developed a shared sonic language that gives the album its interconnected, collage-like feel.

Across BLISS, tracks explore themes of disconnection, frustration, surrender and renewal. Tracks such as “Revelations” draw from the Gregorian chant that was commonly deployed in late ‘90s and early ‘00s European dance music with its own take, while the crunching stomp of “Megalith”, confronts feelings of helplessness and stagnation. “It’s about finding your inner stillness, but then having found that stillness, maybe it’s not so pleasant,” says keyboardist & guitarist Adam Smith. “You can sometimes feel helpless and stuck when the world is moving around you, and you feel like a standing stone – like a megalith – and there’s nothing you can do about it.” 

For Temples, BLISS is more than just a stylistic shift –  it’s a statement of intent. A record made without compromise, driven by instinct, chemistry and the joy of making music together again.

As the band put it, “it’s about permission: to let go, to move, and to become something unexpected.”

“Glimmer” and BLISS are out now via V2 Records. Tickets for Temples live are on sale now.